A secure psychiatric unit in Weston-super-Mare has been issued with four formal warnings by the health regulator.

Cygnet Hospital in Kewstoke must make urgent changes after it was found to be failing to meet standards for the welfare of patients, safeguarding patients from abuse, protecting people from the spread of infection and the security of records.

The 69-bed low-secure psychiatric hospital run by Cygnet Health Care will be inspected again to see whether changes have been made.

Westbury-on-Trym businessman Shrien Dewani, who denies arranging the murder of his wife in South Africa, was briefly undergoing treatment at the hospital before being moved to Fromeside in Bristol.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out its unannounced inspection in December following a security breach that had sparked concerns that the hospital was not meeting the required national standards.

During their time at the hospital inspectors spoke to four people who used the service and found that two were happy with the way they were supported by staff while the other two raised concerns about safety.

Inspectors also reviewed five care records and found that assessments of care needs were not always carried out as appropriate.

Ian Biggs, deputy director of CQC in the South said: “This inspection followed a serious breach of security at the hospital. While staff told us that they had been trained in safeguarding and recognising abuse, they did not understand how a patient going absent without leave was a safeguarding concern.

“We were concerned to see in records that three patients had been restrained for more than 30 minutes, with nothing to suggest that alternatives such as the use of medication or tranquilisation were considered. The national guidance says that restraint should be for only as long as is absolutely necessary.”

He said that in hospitals registered to provide treatment to people detained under the mental health act, such as Cygnet Hospital, it was essential that staff should be meeting safeguarding regulations.

“The law sets out the standards that everyone should be able to expect and providers have a duty to ensure they are compliant,” he said.

“We note the provider has said that it will take action. Our inspectors will keep Cygnet Hospital Kewstoke under review, working closely with the NHS specialist commissioning group to ensure that people are not at undue risk of harm.

“We will return in the near future and if we find that this hospital is not making the required progress we won’t hesitate to use our legal powers to protect the people who use the service.”

A spokesman for Cygnet Hospital said: “Nothing is more important to us than providing the best possible support to our service users.

“Whilst were pleased that a number of service users had expressed satisfaction with our facility, we take the concerns flagged by the CQC following an unannounced inspection on 11 December 2012 incredibly seriously. We have already created an action plan which we will continue to implement. As part of this, we are re-training staff and will be rigorously reviewing our action plan progress. We want to reassure our service users and their families that we will do all we can to ensure the highest standards.

“We will continue to focus on supporting the mental and physical wellbeing of our service users”.

Comments

In the end of course we are aware of the outcome,the psychiatric hospital will close like all the other's,inmates will be sent to "care in the community which means being given a cardboard box,and directed to a shop doorway,where the schizophrenics among them will be free to stab,or attack complete stranger's.